


Getting to know you

by boleyn13



Series: Let's be lonely together [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avenger Loki (Marvel), Baby steps towards romance, Developing Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Living Together, Magic, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Roommates, Tony is still not over Civil War, Tony realises how powerful Loki is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2019-01-05 18:45:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12195555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boleyn13/pseuds/boleyn13
Summary: “It’s okay to like him, you know. You don’t have to make it all about having a sorcerer in the house.”“Of course I like him… He may be a snob, but his taste in TV is amazing and he always cleans up after himself. He doesn’t threaten to take over the world anymore and strangely enough he doesn’t touch my stuff without asking. What’s not to like?”Tony and Loki get along perfectly as roommates. Until Loki helps Tony out with Avengers business and Tony gets to see what Loki is actually capable of doing. Looking back at his own experiences with magic, it might be too much for Tony to handle





	Getting to know you

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everybody,
> 
> Another oneshot about Tony / Loki after Civil War. Slowly turning into a series?
> 
> It can be read as a stand-alone, but technically it's a sequel to "Lights out" and "Without purpose". 
> 
> Have fun :D

“You know I could use a helping hand. You wanna come with me and kick some ass?”

To be honest Tony didn’t expect euphoric agreement, but Loki’s reaction was even less than underwhelming. He barely lowered his newspaper and arched an eyebrow at Tony. “Kick some ass. That entails what?”

“Couple of wanna-be terrorists are trying to take over a power plant. Sure, I can totally handle it myself, but you could be useful and you know… all that talk about purpose.” Tony gave him a quick smile, he didn’t have a lot of time to do some actual convincing, but to have a sorcerer as back-up wouldn’t be the worst idea. At least Tony hoped so. Loki was still a potential risk, but if Tony trusted him enough to live with him, it would be weird to change his mind now.

Turning back to the newspaper Loki declined. “Thank you for the offer, but I am sure you are indeed capable of handling that yourself.”

“For a guy who whined and almost went through an existential crisis, because he didn’t have anything to you, you really like hanging around.” Tony would have loved to give Loki a few examples of his best snarky remarks. Unfortunately he didn’t have the time. “We’ll talk about that when I get back.”

Loki made a very neutral sound and Tony really had to get going. Hero business and all. Which turned out to be handled very easily. Tony was back one hour later, feeling great except for a few bruises. No, he wasn’t surprised to see Loki still sitting on the couch. Now reading a book. They were going to have a conversation now and it wasn’t going to be pleasant. Dropping down next to Loki Tony waited for Loki to ask how the fight had been and how many heroic deeds he had done. Loki turned a page and casually said “You are back.”

“Yeah.” Tony was still expectantly waiting for an apology or simply anything. In vain, Loki was completely enraptured by the book and so obviously not worried about Tony. Which, admittedly bothered Tony a little bit. Sure, he was Iron Man, completely able to take care of himself and Loki definitely knew that. Everybody knew that. Still, a polite ‘How are you?’ would have been nice.

Tony was willing to give Loki a few seconds to rethink his behaviour. Those seconds turned into several minutes during which Loki read about ten pages and Tony very loudly cleared his throat.

“Something you want to talk about, Stark?”

Finally. A start. “Yes, actually, there is something I want to talk about, Loki.” Tony put extra emphasis on his name. That usually made people understand that they were in trouble. Not so much the Asgardian. “Do I need to stop reading?”

And there was Tony’s patience – going right out of the window. “Yes, when somebody is talking to you, you put your stupid book away.”

Sighing softly Loki did as Tony asked of him, but he still looked completely unbothered and relaxed. For a second Tony was startled by that. Not in a bad way. It was the first time Tony realised how comfortable Loki had become in the penthouse. The way he was sitting on the couch, his legs crossed, barefoot, wearing sweatpants and a long-sleeved blue shirt. A single strand of hair had slipped from ponytail and Loki didn’t seem to be bothered by it. This was the perfect picture of casual. Something Tony wouldn’t even have to be able to imagine a few weeks prior. Now he thought that it suited Loki. That didn’t mean Tony couldn’t put him in his place.

“Can you help me to trigger my memory? I think I remember us having a discussion before you moved in… Didn’t we talk about you helping me out with the Avengers’ stuff?”

Closing the book Loki shifted a little bit to get more comfortable and Tony admired how perfectly straight his back was. “You said that I could be very useful. I called the arrangement absurd.”

“And yet you agreed. I know this is a great place to live in, but I guess you can easily get one just like this yourself. You were looking for something to do, a purpose. Then I give you the chance to kick some ass and you prefer to sit here and read. It’s not like I’m going to kick you out… I doubt that I could, I’m merely a bit confused. Are you looking for a new purpose or not?”

Although he had got to know Loki during the last couple of weeks, Tony couldn’t interpret the look on Loki’s face. “To be honest… your wanna-be terrorists that want to take over a power plant… didn’t interest me all that much.”

“Now that’s a first one.”

“You were able to handle it, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, sure, but… what would be enough to interest you?”

Loki shrugged. “I will know when I see it.”

How was Tony not supposed to be frustrated by that answer? “Oh, right. You are way too amazing to deal with the small business. Great, now that I know that, I will only bother you with the apocalypse.”

“That sounds appropriate.” Loki nodded, obviously content with how their conversation had turned out. Then he got up and walked away which was all the more frustrating. “Uhm, Lokes, what are you doing?”

“It’s late. I’m hungry. I’m making dinner.”

Now that was a surprising turn of events. Or not. Loki more or less stated that he was no longer interested in this conversation. Well, at least Tony had tried. Time to take a shower and slip into bed. Battle against terrorist won. Battle against Loki’s stubbornness lost. That wasn’t too bad of a score.

Getting up Tony left the living room and headed for his own room. Getting out of his dirty clothes and the hot water on his skin made him feel like an entirely new person, so Tony took his time. It wasn’t like he had plans for the rest of the night. Perhaps just hanging out in front of the TV now that Loki had cleared the main room. Sure, Tony had a great one in his own bedroom, but he had spent a fortune on the entertainment system in the main room and Tony was sure as hell going to use it. Not his damn fault that there were hardly any people left to enjoy it.

Dressed in comfy sweatpants and a long-sleeved MIT sweater Tony returned to the now empty living room and made himself comfortable on the couch, ignoring the slight disappointment he felt. Everything got better when he made himself comfortable on the couch and started zapping through channels. Finally he ended up watching Terminal, which had seen before, but he liked it and Tom Hanks was always a win.

What Tony hadn’t bargained for was Loki slipping back onto the couch next to him, a plate in his hand and a spoon in his mouth. Tony had been wrong before, this was Loki at his most casual. Weird, but kind of cute.

“What are you watching?”

Taken aback Tony gestured at the TV. “Terminal. Tom Hanks is stuck at an airport for several months. Sounds strange, but believe me, it’s good. Although… you’re not human, so entry requirements will probably confuse the hell out of you…”

“I guess then you will have to explain it to me.” Loki leaned back and that probably meant that Tony wasn’t going to spend the evening alone. Fine by him. It was hard to concentrate on the movie though when that absolutely, mind-bogglingly delicious smell was constantly distracting him. Glancing at Loki’s plate Tony spotted something that looked like risotto with a lot of zucchini. It took Tony’s mouth about two seconds to start watering. “Okay, that looks fucking amazing.”

“Serve yourself. I’ve made way too much anyway. There’s an entire pot in the kitchen.”

Tony didn’t need to be asked twice. So they watched Terminal together, eating Loki’s zucchini risotto, which was so fucking delicious that Tony had to obligate Loki to start cooking regularly for him. Afterwards Loki claimed that the movie had been enjoyable and for Tony it had been an enjoyable evening after all.

 ***

“So… uhm… you see that, right?” Tony gestured wildly at the sky. “A guy. Flying around. Shooting laser beams with his hands. That must be enough to interest you. Magic. Right up your alley.”

If the situation hadn’t been so severe, Tony would have been tempted to laugh at how Loki cocked his head. An expression on his face as he was really thinking hard about what he was supposed to feel about the appearance of this strange subject in the sky. Eventually he chose a shrug. “No, there is no real magic involved. Amateur. You’re perfectly able to take care of him yourself.”

That was all. Tony didn’t get anything else. Loki turned around and headed back into the penthouse to continue working on his crosswords. Seriously, the guy wasn’t doing anything else since he had discovered those.

“What? Seriously?! You’re letting me do this alone? You are the worst roommate ever!”

Naturally Loki wasn’t even listening anymore, he was back inside and Tony was growling.

“Tony?! Some help?!”

Oh, right. Rhodey. Since Loki thought that a flying, laser shooting man was beneath him, the guys in the suits had to deal with this. Well, fuck the Nordic god, Tony would cancel his Netflix access.

So three long, weary hours later Tony and Rhodey shared some of Tony’s best scotch and were licking their wounds in the kitchen and Loki casually strolled in. Casual. There had been a lot of casual lately. So much that it was starting to piss Tony off. Loki was feeling right at home, okay so far, but he would get his ass up from the couch. For a man who had complained about being without purpose he seemed very content with doing crosswords all day.

Loki stopped for a second and took in the sight of them. The cuts and the bruises. Not impressing him very much. “Told you, you could handle it.”

Tony’s mouth dropped open while Loki got himself a beer from the fridge and then left them alone again. To his embarrassment Tony only came up with a very lame response. When Loki was already gone. “You know, I am going to make you pay rent by next month!”

Wow, that was ridiculous. Making the god who could teleport and shapeshift pay rent? Loki could probably steal all the money in the world within a day.

Next to him Rhodey was still pressing some ice against the left side of his face, muttering some words that sounded suspiciously like “He’s still freaking me out…”

“Loki? Really? By now I consider him as my pet. He’s always at home, eats my food and sometimes looks at me disapprovingly for no reason. Like he knows what I am thinking.”

“That’s freaking me out even more. We’re not going to have that conversation again. He’s obviously still refusing to help.”

Yeah, that was totally the case and nevertheless Tony felt the need to play it down. Probably to make himself seem less crazy for having Loki here. “Not really refusing… More like waiting until something interesting enough comes up. I know! Shooting lasers with hands should be interesting enough, but he has crazy standards…”

Rhodey answered with a raised eyebrow and then shook his head. “Huh… To be honest I can’t fault him for not wanting to get involved. Nothing that is going on here has anything to do with him. We’ve been through a lot of shit… he’s… about 20 times as old as we are and he grew up with Thor. Or maybe his murderous streak from 4 years ago has satisfied his need for violence for the rest of his life…”

Tony felt his own bag of ice slip slightly. Sometimes it was so easy to forget. Especially by how casually Loki walked through the very same penthouse that he had destroyed four years ago. The place he was living in now. “You still think that I am crazy.”

“Honestly? The few people who you should be able to trust most in the world turned out to be back-stabbing bastards… so I am not going to judge anybody’s character anymore. As long as he doesn’t make any trouble… and he’s clearly here for a reason, so…”

“Yeah, his big, great search for purpose. He’s probably going to find it in a crossword anytime so.” Tony rolled his eyes.

“That’s not what I meant. He didn’t ask you if he could move in, right? That was your idea. Do you know why he is here?” Rhodey seemed genuinely interested and Tony thought back to the night that he had asked Loki to stay. To more or less become an Avenger. “Hell, he could be so incredibly useful. Or it would be amazing if he got his ass up from the freaking couch.”

While showing his amusement in a soft chuckle Rhodey put th _e_ ice away. “It’s okay to like him, you know. You don’t have to make it all about having a sorcerer in the house.”

Tony opened his mouth when he realised that this was one of these rare occasions when he didn’t know what to say. So he started babbling, which was never a good thing. “Of course I like him… He may be a snob, but his taste in TV is amazing and he always cleans up after himself. He doesn’t threaten to take over the world anymore and strangely enough he doesn’t touch my stuff without asking. What’s not to like?”

Now Rhodey gave him a look like he desperately wanted to say something, but kept silence nonetheless. For once Tony knew better than to ask.

 ***

Wizard. Fucking wizards. Tony shouldn’t be supposed to deal with that. Sorcerers. Mages. Whatever the fuck was the correct term to describe that ugly little man who was throwing fireballs with his hands and lifting cars without touching them. Oh, and Tony. He loved to lift Tony and throw him against a building. Every single bone in his body hurt and by now Tony wanted to scream, because he couldn’t even get close that tiny little worm. No matter at what speed Tony was flying towards him, one wave with his hand and Tony’s back connected with another wall.

Fuck those magic users. All of them. Especially the one sitting back at home, making photographs. Because that was what Loki was into right now. Photographs. No selfies though, he wasn’t a teenage girl. Anyway, Tony was definitely going to make him pay rent now. On principle.

Getting back up again Tony raised his arm for another attack when he caught a glimpse of a very familiar figure standing on the roof of a house on Tony’s left. Oh great, somebody finally decided to leave the penthouse. Not in battle gear as Tony would have hoped and that made him even angrier than the ugly wizard.

“Is that enough to fucking interest you!?” Tony yelled and gestured towards that disgusting goblin and suddenly Loki was gone. For half a second, then he was standing next to Tony who almost jumped out of his skin. “Jesus!”

“Yes, actually it is.” Loki said casually and started walking towards the wizard. Fine, Tony was just going to stand here and watch how this was going to turn out.

The wizard quickly identified Loki as a threat, which was almost surprising, because Loki was in jeans and a worn out t-shirt. Nothing to protect him. Which wasn’t necessary anyway. The wizard threw his fire balls at Loki and was furious to see that they all bounced off some golden, green force field around the god. Okay, that was a first one. Why hadn’t Tony seen that before?

What he saw now was Loki raising his hand and wiggling his fingers. Wiggling. The result made Tony’s jaw drop. Green, golden light picked up the wizard who let out a yelp and started to float towards them. It looked odd. He was struggling, but somehow unable to move. Whatever Loki was doing to keep him that way, it couldn’t be strenuous. Turning back around to face Tony Loki sighed. “Now that was disappointing. He is all yours.”

And Loki was gone. The wizard still unable to move. Okay, why not.

After calling the feds and dropping off the wizard Tony went back home and made sure to slam a couple of doors to make sure Loki hadn’t fallen asleep over his crosswords, photographs or whatever.

“Lokes, we gotta talk!”

“I’ve already told you, I didn’t eat your disgusting French cheese. I threw it away. It was covered in mold.”

“It’s French cheese, it’s supposed to look that way.”

“Disgusting.” Loki shook his head, but didn’t bother to even look into Tony’s direction. He seemed perfectly comfortable on the couch, reading a book.

Tony stopped and did a check before he would start the conversation. His body was still vibrating with anger and adrenaline. Perfect, still good to go. Walking around the couch Tony stopped right next to Loki, putting his hands on his hips. “What the hell were you doing out there?”

Turning the page Loki responded in the calmest manner possible. “I helped you, I thought you wanted me to do that.”

“I am not talking about the helping me out part, that was good. Thank you for that.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I am talking about you doing that.” Tony wiggled his fingers which was ridiculous since Loki was still reading. “Hey, look at me when I am talking to you.”

Sighing in fake annoyance Loki lowered the book and turned his head to Tony. Directly looking at him with big, green eyes.

“This!” Tony wiggled his fingers again and Loki arched one perfect eyebrow. “I am not sure I can follow.”

“How have you never mentioned that you can do this!? Creating force fields around yourself and… telekinesis! You can do fucking telekinesis!?” Tony’s voice was reaching an embarrassingly high pitch, so it was better to shut up. Loki’s eyebrow was still raised. “I have magic. To some extent I am magic. You knew that. Why shouldn’t I be able to do these things?”

Clearing his throat Tony hoped that he was sounding normal by now. With a bit of luck his heartrate was also going to slow down again. “Because I’ve never seen you do these things! You tried to take over the world. Maybe nobody told you, but telekinesis and force fields would have been incredibly useful! Like teleportation… which you also didn’t use… Okay, you know what? You’re going to write down a list of all the things you can do and then I am going to be seriously pissed at you.”

Loki’s eyebrow simply wouldn’t go down. “I am still not following you.”

“You can move things with your mind! That means…” Tony’s words died on his lips when his brilliant brain put two and two together. Or when he remembered something that somebody else had done. What he didn’t really want to remember. “Okay… so you can create force field and you have telekinesis strong enough to lift a 200 pound man…”

By the grunt Loki let out Tony guessed that he could lift objects much heavier. That made sense, Loki had to be about as strong as Thor and Thor could lift a fucking plane with his hands. “… so does that mean you can fly?”

“Technically no.”

“That means yes?”

“I can lift my own body through the power of my mind for a limited period of time. Yes.” Loki nodded and Tony was going to throw a temper tantrum. “Okay until now I was only upset that you refused to get up from the couch to help me kick ass, but now… I want to kick your ass and sent you to your room without supper.”

That was enough for Loki to give up on him and he turned back to his book. “I guess you’re losing your mind. Feel free to continue without me.”

“You turn out to be immensely powerful that you could end pretty much every fight in less than a minute but you prefer to let me go out alone and almost get killed!”

“You were never even close to mortal danger.”

“But I could have been!”

“No.”

“How would you know?!”

“Because you are very smart and capable and perfectly capable of taking care of yourself.”

The snarky response was already sitting on the tip of Tony’s tongue, but didn’t get a chance to come out. Bewilderment got the better of him. Adrenaline and anger were gone. Heartrate still accelerated. In a very unhealthy way. Tony’s lips felt strangely dry and why had he so much trouble wrapping his head around these words. “You… uhm… thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Loki was still engrossed in his book and Tony slowly sat down next to him, running one hand through his hair. The conversation had taken an unexpected turn and he didn’t know how to handle it. Until now talking to Loki had always been fairly easy. Now Tony felt out of his depth. “Okay… back to my first point… if you can do this kind of stuff… and I guess you can do even more… why did you never use it before?”

“There wasn’t a reason to.”

“Trying to take over the world wasn’t a reason?”

“No.” Loki mumbled softly and Tony decided to let it go. At least for now. “Well… thanks for your help. I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome.”

 ***

“You are kidding.”

Tony shook his head.

“You are fucking with me.”

“Nope.”

“This got to be a joke. Seriously. Please.” Rhodey lowered the sheet of paper and gave Tony a pleading look, but he was still shaking his head. At least he knew now that his own reaction had been perfectly normal. And why he had avoided being in the same room with Loki for an entire day. The only reason they had dinner together was Loki’s amazing lasagne. To die for. Tony was more than willing to risk his life for that.

By now Rhodey was back to staring at the sheet of paper, his eyes getting wider with each word. “Superhuman strength… well, we already knew that. Did he come up with that term?”

“No, he asked me how to describe that he can lift several tons with his bare hands.”

“Lovely… Astral projection?”

Tony down another scotch. “Uhuh… I asked… across several dimensions. Distance is not an issue, but he doesn’t do it often, because hey, he can teleport. Except when he needs to be in two places at the same time. You know.”

“You still have some of that scotch?”

Nodding Tony refilled both of their glasses and Rhodey continued to read. “Energy blasts… okay, why not. Illusions. That we already knew. Teleportation. Shapeshifting. Tele… Fuck no. Telepathy?! He knows what we are thinking?! That’s it, I’m never entering the penthouse again.”

“Completely understandable and believe me, I had about four heart attacks at the same time, but it’s not so bad when he explains it. Maybe it’s even worse, depends on how you look at it. I don’t know… No, he can’t read our thoughts. He can make you hear his voice in your thoughts though…”

“You’re right. That’s not so bad and infinite times worse. Great way to drive people crazy.”

“I said the same thing and he smiled.”

Putting the list away Rhodey took a big gulp from his glass. “Okay, that’s a lot to take. I already thought you were crazy to have a Norse god live with you. At the time we thought that he only was very strong, an illusionist and can teleport… He is ridiculously overpowered. Thor could have mentioned a few of those things…”

Nodding Tony stared into his scotch and he once again had no idea what to do. His constant state of being during the last couple of months. First he hadn’t known what to do about Steve and his murderous friend. Tony had ended up doing nothing but being alone. Then Loki had shown up, feeling as alone and almost as betrayed as Tony. Despite them evolving something like a hesitant friendship Tony hadn’t known what to do about him either. Until the moment he had suddenly known. When he had asked Loki to move in and to help him do something good, something useful. Why shouldn’t they be lonely together and Loki had been desperately looking for a purpose.

Loki was watching Fargo with him.

Loki rolled his eyes about people complaining about that there were too many characters in Game Of Thrones.

Loki made amazing lasagne.

Loki’s favourite clothes were comfortable dark jeans and a long-sleeved green shirt.

Loki loved doing crosswords.

Loki hated social media not because he didn’t understand it, but because he thought it was escapism for people too craven to deal with the real world.

Loki preferred night to day, because he enjoyed the silence and liked looking at the stars.

Loki was left-handed.

Loki thought that Tony could take care of himself.

Loki had loved another person enough to give them an enchanted blade for protection and they had stabbed him with it.

Loki had told Tony that.

Loki could make people hear voices in their heads.

“Tones?”

He winced and looked up to see Rhodey’s concern and it almost broke Tony’s heart. “Yes?”

“Are you okay with this? Him living with you when you know… what he can do?”

So what if Tony said yes? Rhodey would be there for him, to help him, but honestly – what were they going to do against Loki with their cute little armours. What would anybody do?

“To be honest it’s better than before… I wanted him to do something good and now it turns out that he is even more qualified than I thought. Which is great.” Tony shrugged, ignoring the strain in his chest.

“You know what I mean, Tony.”

Of course Tony knew. “He is my friend. Like you. I didn’t find out about his fuck ton of powers because he used them on me, but because I asked him to write a list. I’ll talk to him… I’ll talk to him.”

 ***

When Tony came home he was greeted by the smell of delicious food. He hadn’t felt hungry until now. There would be no need to ask Loki if he could have some, the god always cooked enough for both of them. Even when Tony wasn’t at home.

Slowly Tony stepped into his kitchen, stopping in the doorframe to watch Loki stirring in a pot. Would he be able to do that with his mind too? Yeah, definitely. Tony couldn’t help but think of how he had never used this kitchen. Nobody had actually. So there had been food in the fridge and a microwave. Nobody before Loki had done any cooking. For anyone.

“That smells great. What is it?”

“Boeuf Bourguignon.“

“Seriously?”

“Sure. I’ve read it’s delicious, so I wanted to give it a try.” Loki shrugged and put the spoon away. “If you want to judge my success, it’ll be ready in 10 minutes.”

There was no way Tony could wait that long. “Sure. I need to talk to you first.”

While cleaning his hands with a dishcloth Loki nodded and looked at Tony expectantly. That was another thing.

Loki thought interrupting people was impolite.

Loki was great to have conversations with.

Loki would listen to his ideas before calling them stupid.

“All the stuff you can do… do you use them often?”

What a bad, pathetic start…

“Are you referring to the list?”

“Yeah.”

“Depends. I teleport almost every day. Sometimes I use magic and illusions for everyday tasks. I think you saw me cleaning my clothes with magic… The more combat bound powers… I only use in combat. Why are you asking?” Putting the dishcloth away Loki leaned against the kitchen counter, his expression neutral but slightly interested.

Once again Tony was struggling for words, but then he decided to fuck it and be honest, use the first thing that came to his mind. “Because your powers are freaking me out.”

Such a rare but beautiful thing to see Loki surprised. The frown on his face and the lines around his eyes. “Why? You are a man hard to impress. Also you have witnessed strange things, haven’t you?”

“Right… about that…” Tony came a step closer, feeling ridiculous, since he had fallen asleep on the couch next to Loki more than once. “I have some experiences… with similar stuff. The voice in people’s head stuff… did you do that? Okay, of course you did it, otherwise you wouldn’t know that you were able to do it… I just want to know… by any chance… did you make somebody go crazy by talking to them in their head over and over and over again?”

Loki took his time. Way too much for the answer being no. Tony felt dizzy.

“It’s an ability that I never really had to learn… I discovered it when I was still very young and I… abused it. I was never shy and it was a wonderful way to taunt and insult somebody without getting in trouble for it. But I alienated people, made them dislike me and to be honest… I lost interest in it. It can be incredibly useful in combat when you want to share important information… but it’s also not a very pleasant experience for me. I’m entering a place that I’m not supposed to enter. There are barriers to overcome and when I am inside, everything is trying to push me out. No, I don’t think I have ever driven somebody insane. Not on purpose anyway. I haven’t done it in a long time. I don’t like it very much. Is that a satisfying answer?”

Yes, it was. Absolutely. Not so much his explanation, but Tony’s willingness to believe him.

Loki had never messed with his head.

Loki made him Boeuf Bourguignon even when Tony wasn’t home.

Loki wasn’t pretending to be a good guy.

A smile made its way to Tony’s lips. “Yeah… I’m setting the table, okay?”

Nodding slowly Loki returned his smile. “Sure.”

 ***

After dinner, in his bedroom Tony lay down on his bed and called Rhodey.

“Hey, everything alright?”

“Yeah, I just have one very important and complex question.”

“Shoot.”

“How do you ask out a person who has severe trust issues because the last guy they dated stabbed them and who has the power to squash me like a bug after mentally torturing me?”


End file.
